I have tried out the new mix race rules with a couple of tables now, in every case on purpose I put a half race taking the abilities of the same full race as another player. And in every case after playing a session the half race player said they didn't feel they where a half race, as much as they tried to roleplay it having a dragonborn halfling with the same abilities as the halfling at the table made them feel that they should reskin as a halfling. This has been the case at the 3 tables I have DM'd with the new rules and the one table I attended as a player, the half race rules just feel, flat and uninspiring,
Did they take other things in their Background to reflect a different heritage? Or did you just take the special features from one race and leave it at that?
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I'm late to this discussion I know, but here goes my 2cp anyways...
"If you don’t, write up how you would make a half-elf, half-Orc, or whatever you want to see based on how they’ve written their races."
I do not like the Character Origins Race section. First of all, can we call it Ancestry already? Character building encompasses more than just what you are...maybe we call it History so you have your Class and your past.
Secondly, I feel people are making it more complicated than it has to be...what is so hard about saying pick one or two traits from each side? A lot of people will instantly claim you can make a busted character that way, aka they're considered OP to them, but you can do that with options now so how is this any different? The way the UA reads right now, if you pick one race but look however you want that's just a cosmetic effect and thusly doesn't reflect your true biracial biology.
I do like the whole take the ages and then you're the average, but if you can do that why can't you also pick features from column A and features from column B? It makes the system feel inconsistent with itself from the jump, as if to say we want this to matter but also we're lazy to finish it given it's a UA. Which if that's the case fine but if this is the finished product that is not okay. Again I would keep the age average element and extend it to Darkvision so if parent A has 60ft and parent B has none then you're average is 30ft. Same with walking - 30 and 30 is 30 but 30 and 25 is 25 because the average is 27 and that's closer to 25 than 30.
After that you can pick either one race feature from each side. I feel one is the best option since most races have only two traits and these would be your two. You could then visually customize your character however you want to reflect the outside appearance of your biracial character; it's really not hard.
Features: (so many options you could do here but for the example we'll go with) Breath Weapon and Fey Ancestry (or any option from the subclass your elf comes from)
Looks: (roughly) 6ft elf body type with red skin flakes all over them.
Easy!
Picking one race but looking visually different is fine if you want to take a "dominate genes" approach but not everyone favors one parent over the other, some people are true mixes of each. I get you want the base gameplay mechanic to be easy for all and so you have this as the first option on the page BUT right after it is a Variant box text saying how you can alter a timely take the averages and then one trait from each side because again not everyone who's biracial leans toward one parent side over the other.
I definitely put on the survey my displeasure at things being strictly cosmetic. If you play race A mechanically but look however what's the point? The point is biracialism is more than skin deep and thusly gameplay should reflect that; as others have said for years you've had two half races in the PHB so it shouldn't be hard to make a general half race system as a Variant rule below the easy option of "just looks" they want to push for new players.
One of the popular things to do was use the variant Half Elf rules in Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide to gain the benefits of Elf with either better stats or less downsides (like the Drow Sunlight Sensitivity). A Half-Drow got the Drow Magic, but didn't suffer from Sunlight Sensitivity. A Half-Wood Elf could take the Elf Martial Training, but with a total of +4 to stats instead of +3.
In appears in One D&D that +4 to stats is gone. +3 is the limit for everyone. So, then what is the difference between the old Half Elf and the new "Half Elf"?
Half Elf, 60 foot darkvision, two skill proficiencies, fey ancestry, Common, Elvish, and one extra language. Life expectancy, 200 years.
"Half Elf", 60/120 foot darkvision, perception proficiency, fey ancestry, trance, lineage. Alternatively "human" but we don't do that around here. Life expectancy doubles to about 400 years.
All races now get one language from their race and another from their background, so the "Half Elf" can take Common, Elvish, and a third language.
They do lose one skill proficiency, but that's not a big deal. Most would have taken perception anyway. Between the new "fey ancestry" and the new "trance" they basically have the old fey ancestry covered. They have the lineage spells, depending on what parentage they want.
If you want to be a skill monkey you can take the Skilled feat from your background, but that's quite an overreaction to losing one proficiency. There are better options (although my High Elf Warlock does take the Skilled feat because he was a thief and infiltrator before becoming a Warlock).
With the exception of the +4 stats, that nobody gets, the "Half Elf" is mechanically pretty close to the old Half Elf. You can have +1 to three stats if you want to do the 16/16/16/8/8/8 build.
And yes, the difference between a "Half Elf" and an Elf is down to roleplay.
If these are the changes going forwards then that is something we're just going to have to accept.
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Did they take other things in their Background to reflect a different heritage? Or did you just take the special features from one race and leave it at that?
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Filled out the survey with my recommendations. Here’s hoping they listen, and improve the situation
I'm late to this discussion I know, but here goes my 2cp anyways...
"If you don’t, write up how you would make a half-elf, half-Orc, or whatever you want to see based on how they’ve written their races."
I do not like the Character Origins Race section. First of all, can we call it Ancestry already? Character building encompasses more than just what you are...maybe we call it History so you have your Class and your past.
Secondly, I feel people are making it more complicated than it has to be...what is so hard about saying pick one or two traits from each side? A lot of people will instantly claim you can make a busted character that way, aka they're considered OP to them, but you can do that with options now so how is this any different? The way the UA reads right now, if you pick one race but look however you want that's just a cosmetic effect and thusly doesn't reflect your true biracial biology.
I do like the whole take the ages and then you're the average, but if you can do that why can't you also pick features from column A and features from column B? It makes the system feel inconsistent with itself from the jump, as if to say we want this to matter but also we're lazy to finish it given it's a UA. Which if that's the case fine but if this is the finished product that is not okay. Again I would keep the age average element and extend it to Darkvision so if parent A has 60ft and parent B has none then you're average is 30ft. Same with walking - 30 and 30 is 30 but 30 and 25 is 25 because the average is 27 and that's closer to 25 than 30.
After that you can pick either one race feature from each side. I feel one is the best option since most races have only two traits and these would be your two. You could then visually customize your character however you want to reflect the outside appearance of your biracial character; it's really not hard.
And example would be...
Parent A: Dragonborn
Parent B: Elf
Kid
Age: 415 - 750 + 80 / 2
Height: 6ft Medium
Darkvision: 30ft - 60 + 0 / 2
Walking Speed: 30ft
Languages: Common, Elvish, and Draconic
Features: (so many options you could do here but for the example we'll go with) Breath Weapon and Fey Ancestry (or any option from the subclass your elf comes from)
Looks: (roughly) 6ft elf body type with red skin flakes all over them.
Easy!
Picking one race but looking visually different is fine if you want to take a "dominate genes" approach but not everyone favors one parent over the other, some people are true mixes of each. I get you want the base gameplay mechanic to be easy for all and so you have this as the first option on the page BUT right after it is a Variant box text saying how you can alter a timely take the averages and then one trait from each side because again not everyone who's biracial leans toward one parent side over the other.
I definitely put on the survey my displeasure at things being strictly cosmetic. If you play race A mechanically but look however what's the point? The point is biracialism is more than skin deep and thusly gameplay should reflect that; as others have said for years you've had two half races in the PHB so it shouldn't be hard to make a general half race system as a Variant rule below the easy option of "just looks" they want to push for new players.
One of the popular things to do was use the variant Half Elf rules in Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide to gain the benefits of Elf with either better stats or less downsides (like the Drow Sunlight Sensitivity). A Half-Drow got the Drow Magic, but didn't suffer from Sunlight Sensitivity. A Half-Wood Elf could take the Elf Martial Training, but with a total of +4 to stats instead of +3.
In appears in One D&D that +4 to stats is gone. +3 is the limit for everyone. So, then what is the difference between the old Half Elf and the new "Half Elf"?
Half Elf, 60 foot darkvision, two skill proficiencies, fey ancestry, Common, Elvish, and one extra language. Life expectancy, 200 years.
"Half Elf", 60/120 foot darkvision, perception proficiency, fey ancestry, trance, lineage. Alternatively "human" but we don't do that around here. Life expectancy doubles to about 400 years.
All races now get one language from their race and another from their background, so the "Half Elf" can take Common, Elvish, and a third language.
They do lose one skill proficiency, but that's not a big deal. Most would have taken perception anyway. Between the new "fey ancestry" and the new "trance" they basically have the old fey ancestry covered. They have the lineage spells, depending on what parentage they want.
If you want to be a skill monkey you can take the Skilled feat from your background, but that's quite an overreaction to losing one proficiency. There are better options (although my High Elf Warlock does take the Skilled feat because he was a thief and infiltrator before becoming a Warlock).
With the exception of the +4 stats, that nobody gets, the "Half Elf" is mechanically pretty close to the old Half Elf. You can have +1 to three stats if you want to do the 16/16/16/8/8/8 build.
And yes, the difference between a "Half Elf" and an Elf is down to roleplay.
If these are the changes going forwards then that is something we're just going to have to accept.